Sitharaman, Rahul Gandhi Trade Barbs, Accuse Each Other of ‘Lying’
Rahul Gandhi challenged Nirmala Sitharaman to place documents on HAL before Parliament on Monday, 7 January.
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Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on Sunday, 6 January, accused Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "lying" that procurement orders worth Rs 1 lakh crore were provided to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), claiming the aerospace major has not received any money.
Moments later, Sitharaman hit back saying it was a matter of “shame” that the Congress president was misleading the country on the issue.
While Gandhi challenged Sitharaman to place documents before the Parliament showing Rs 1 lakh crore of government orders to HAL or resign, Sitharaman tweeted details of contracts awarded to the state-run aerospace major since 2014 when the BJP came to power.
Gandhi's attack on Sunday, came after a media report claimed that HAL, grappling with low finances, was forced to borrow Rs 1,000 crore to pay salaries to its employees for the first time in years.
On Saturday, Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "weakening" the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to help his "suit-boot" friend, PTI reported.
On the contrary, BJP-led NDA government accused the Congress of not supporting HAL during its rule and asserted that the government is now strengthening the defence public sector undertaking, the PTI report added.
‘The Lying Defence Minister’s Lies Get Exposed’: Surjewala
Earlier, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, "The Lying Defence Minister's Lies Get Exposed! Defence Minister claimed that procurement orders worth Rs 1 Lakh Crore provided to HAL! HAL says Not a SINGLE PAISA has come, as Not a SINGLE ORDER has been signed! For the first time, HAL forced to take a loan of Rs 1,000 Cr to pay salaries," he added.
Surjewala cited a media report which claimed that not a single rupee of the said Rs 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now.
The media report cited senior HAL management officials in order to back its claim.
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